Kool-Aid's
predecessor was a liquid concentrate called Fruit-Smack. To reduce shipping costs,
in 1927, Edwin Perkins discovered
a way to remove the liquid from Fruit-Smack, leaving only a powder. This powder
was named Kool-Ade (and a few years later, Kool-Aid).

Recently,
the Kool-Aid Man made an appearance on the Fox series Family Guy,
during a tense courtroom scene where Peter was sentenced to 24
months prision. Most members of the Griffin family said "Oh No!", before the Kool-Aid
Man breaks into the courtroom by breaking through a wall, and delivers his trademark
slogan, before a stunned court, after which he slowly backs out.

Negative
image

Kool-Aid
is a drink commonly associated with America's poor due to its low cost. Some have
alleged that the drink is intentionally marketed to African-Americans, since
Kool-Aid Man has a deep baritone voice and says the minstrel-esque catchphrase: "Oh
yeeeeeeaahhh!" Other commercials, aimed at older consumers, depict African-American
families bonding over Kool-Aid. Starting in the new millennium,
Kool-Aid Man has been gradually phased out, or when he does show up during children's
television, he curiously is donning khaki shorts, a stereotypical style of white
suburban America.

"Drinking
the Kool-Aid"

In
1978, 900 followers
of cult leader Jim Jones committed suicide by drinking
a grape-flavored drink laced with
cyanide at their
commune in Jonestown, Guyana. Although
the drink was actually Flavor Aid (a Kool-Aid knockoff
and competitor), it is often thought to have been Kool-Aid. "Drinking the Kool-Aid"
has since arisen as a darkly humorous slang term, meaning that someone believes
or follows the statements of another person (often a charismatic leader) without
question, often to their own detriment. The term usually applies in much less
drastic cases than the Jones example (such as when discussing the reality distortion
field of Apple Computer head Steve Jobs). Often, the phrase
is used as a pejorative comment on effective marketing or public relations campaigns,
or on zealous fans of movies, books, bands, or
even computer operating systems.